Try
to imagine our nation’s ability to function if our power grid failed.

And
yet we are letting environmental groups control our electrical generating
plants by exerting more authority than the U.S. Government's Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA).

Members
of the Sierra Club and other environmental groups in Illinois have
filed their second appeal with the EPA to block construction of a
$2 billion coal-fired electric plant and mine.

They
claim the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) should not
have issued a permit for St. Louis based Peabody Energy to construct
this new 1,500 megawatt plant. This plant is reported to benefit the
Illinois economy by about $100 million and would provide 2,500 construction
jobs and 450 skilled, permanent jobs. More importantly, this is needed
electricity.

Last
week it was reported that some power generating plants in Illinois
were operating at peak due to the hot weather demands for electricity.
This no doubt was the case across the nation. Usually this does not
happen until mid-summer. Could this be an indication we need more
plants to generate and provide power to the consumer?

If
power distributors are forced to buy peak electricity, the rates get
very costly and must be passed on to the consumer at some point.

How
many new power plants have been built in the past decade? Many of
the generating plants are getting old and are not being replaced while
the demand for electricity continually increases.

When
the phone lines are carrying an overload, we get a busy signal and
are told the circuits are busy and to try again later. When our power
lines are overloaded, we get blackouts.

Environmentalists
want $30 million of our tax dollars used for the removal of the Savage
Dam in Southern Oregon. Dennis N. Becklin, Publisher of the Oregon
News Online, satirically asked the public to, “Thank the entire environmental
movement for foisting fraudulently based reasons for removal of Savage
Rapids Dam upon Southern Oregon and for demanding the replacement
of a non-polluting, hydro-turbine pumping system at the dam with electrically
operated pumps that will consume power generated by coal burning,
electricity generating plants in Wyoming, which is the primary source
for electricity consumed in Josephine County. Thank them for the perverse
benefit this will bring to the environment...burning coal instead
of using gravity at a non-polluting hydro-turbine irrigation dam.”

In
Illinois, environmentalists are blocking the building of a coal fired
plant, but in the west they want to replace electricity producing
hydro-turbine generators with coal burning plants. Is there something
strange going on here?

It
is not just the Savage Rapids dam, environmentalists want to remove
dams across the nation. Dams that are necessary to generate hydro-power,
the cleanest most natural generation of electricity.

Dams
that have protected the land from flooding while preserving water
for municipal use and recreation in dry seasons.

Extreme
environmentalists want the rivers to “pulse” once again and not be
restrained.

They
are following the “Global Biodiversity Assessment” published by the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). According to that report,
“They therefore tend to view themselves as members of a community
that not only includes other humans, but also plants and animals as
well as rocks, springs and pools. People are then members of a community
of beings - living and non living.” “Thus rivers may be viewed as
mothers.” Animals may be treated as kin.

Eco-religion
followers view the rivers as a source of their energy and the dams
are a hindrance to nature.

Some
people may wish to live in the world as it was in 1492, but the majority
will confess to having no desire to go backwards in time when they
consider they would have to give up their luxuries. Doing away with
dams is taking the nation backwards.

We
hear the constant "woe of the salmon” story. Given a choice between
electricity and salmon, most will choose electricity. This brings
the question - would there be any salmon left at all if these dams
were as bad as the accusers say? Some of these dams have been there
a long time and there is still salmon. Another question, "can salmon
be farm raised?

Environmentalists
insisted on the conversion to wind power to generate electricity regardless
of the high cost and unreliability, but now they are saying the turbines
kill birds, are noisy and create eye pollution.

Gretchen
Randall of Winningreen reported that according to the Independence
Institute, "Wind farms cost about $384,000 more per megawatt of power
than coal plants-or about one-third more."

Wind
farm owners also get federal tax breaks that allow owners to recoup
their entire investment in 5-6 years. Many states also give wind farm
owners a reduction in property taxes, sales or use taxes or corporate
income taxes.

Wind
farms do not allow other electric generating plants to close. Instead,
these plants are needed as back-up for when the wind speeds are either
too strong or too weak since wind does not generate steady electric
power and there is no way to store excess production on the grid.

Sen.
Lamar Alexander has said federal tax subsidies for wind energy will
cost the U.S. taxpayer $4.5 billion over the next five years. Here
are some facts Randall quotes Sen. Alexander giving about windmills:

Each
windmill is typically more than 300 feet tall or higher than many
football stadiums, including skyboxes.

The
rotor blades stretch from one 10 yard line of a football field to
the other 10 yard line and turn at 100 miles per hour.

Their
flashing red lights can be seen for 20 miles or more and their thumping
noise can be heard a half mile away.

Is
it possible the environmentalists are intimidating the electric companies?

The
Ameren Corporation, who says they are committed to “providing customers
with clean, reliable energy, while preserving, protecting and improving
the environment,” coughed up $225,000 to The Nature Conservancy. They
said, “Our support of The Nature Conservancy’s Illinois River Project
is in keeping with Ameren’s many other efforts to preserve and protect
the environment, ranging from the way the lands and cooling lakes
at our generating plants are managed to the Ameren SmartLights grant
program for energy efficient lighting projects.”

Couldn't
Ameren find a worthy cause to give almost a quarter million dollars
other than an environmental group?

From
the time we get up until we go to bed we use electricity is some form.
Most of us plug the coffee pot in the first thing in the morning in
a well lit temperature controlled home. We take hot showers and check
the news on the television as we take laundry out of the dryer. From
the refrigerator we take our milk and other cold foods without giving
thought to the importance of electricity. Without electricity we could
not fill our tanks with gasoline, use the ATM or go safely through
intersections. Our computers would be useless. We would be paralyzed
without electricity.

These
are only a few of our personal needs but extend that dependence globally
and we realize we live in a world totally dependent upon electricity.
We need to protect it and treat it respectfully.

We
don't give the keys to our cars to toddlers and tell them to go play...neither
should we turn our nation's security over to environmental groups.

Can
we afford to be controlled by a select group that we did not elect
and yet seem to be the “partner” of the government usurping the power
of federal agencies?

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While
we are busy with the details of Michael being acquitted and we watch
as Paris Hilton promotes burgers, and we know the names of all the
reality show contestants, how much can we say we really know about
the security of the electricity we use each day?

Joyce Morrison
is a weekly columnist and news reporter for the Illinoisleader.com,
an online conservative news source. She also writes for SOWER magazine,
NewsWithViews.com, as well as various other publications. She is a weekly
participant on the teleconference of the Illinois Policy Institute, a
conservative think tank and is a pro-life, pro-family activist.

Morrison attempts
to educate the public regarding the dangers coming to their local communities
through Sustainable Development and Agenda 21 programs which are designed
to gradually take control of all private property through undue regulations.

She is a chapter
leader for Concerned Women for America as well as Secretary to the Board
of Directors of Rural Restoration/ADOPT Mission, a national farm ministry
located in Sikeston, MO. FarmersRuralRestoration.com.
Her most enjoyable time is spent teaching a senior adult Sunday School
class which is a focus on hope and encouragement.